Operation: APPRENTICE
by Ursa's number one fan
Summary: Toilenator discovers the truth. Could things turn bad for the Kids Next Door? R&R (Complete)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own codename: kids next door.**

**Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.**

……………..

It began with a simple piece of paper. A tall thin man stood staring at the ground, clutching the paper. On the paper, it said "Child Support Request."

"After so many years…"

………………….

**Chapter One**

…………

It began as a typical day for young Numbah thirteen. It was a Saturday he awoke to the sounds of sobbing and the aroma of pancakes. Further investigation uncovered that the sobbing noise was coming from his mother, and the pancakes were being cooked in the kitchen. Luckily the pan on his head shielded his head from any further trauma when the skillet decided that it would rather like to meet Numbah thirteen's glasses.

After receiving a maternal lecture about hot skillets and how to not grow up to be like his Daddy, the Kids Next Door operative managed a daring escape from not only the maternal unit, but also from Old Rusty, the dog who refused to let the boy ever leave without his shoes beings tied. Numbah thirteen has owed his life on several occasions to that old dog.

……………………..

Meanwhile, in a dark corner of a room that suspiciously resembles a bathroom…

A sharp contrast to the otherwise dingy surroundings, a golden toilet, encrusted with what appears to be fine gems, sat. It shone, shimmered and sparkled.

Seemingly out of nowhere a high pitch tone chimed. The Toilenator rose from darkness, his brow heavy he slouched his way towards the door. He turned the knob, pulled open the door, and shrieked.

"Uh, mail …priority," said a completely baffled and confounded postal worker.

"Needs signature… sir?"

The Toilenator scratched his head, puzzled. This young chap wasn't making any sense, it was insanity. Maybe it's contagious. I hope not.

"Foul carrier of disease!" rebuked The Toilenator. "Leave my premise at once!"

The hapless mail carrier was at a loss of words. She simply hands the form and a pen to the man in the yellow body suit. She gestures to the signature line on the form.

The Toilenator furrows his brow as he tries to decipher the insane antics of this uniform clad female. Ah, she must want my autograph, he realized with a flash of brilliancy. He smiled smugly and signed it; amazed it took him so long to figure out what this lowly serviceperson wanted.

She grabbed it away as soon as he was done, and pushed a large envelope into his hands and ran as quick as her legs would take her.

The Toilenator accepted that "gift of gratitude" from such a devoted fan. He hoped she wasn't running off to tell the others of this encounter, as he didn't wish to make this a daily, or worse, hourly ordeal.

The Toilenator thought it wisest to open the gift in privacy, as he didn't want to encourage his fans to shower him with such things too regularly. After closing the door soundly behind him, he went to his golden toilet to better inspect this gift.

In the top left corner it read "Department of Human Services/ Child Support

Enforcement Division / PO Box XXX" it went on to list the city, state and zip code.

He guessed that this fan must have a child for whom she is being a deadbeat mother. He ripped the cover off, and was shocked to find a letter, not a check, inside.

"Dear Mr. XXXXXX

It has come to our attention that you have been derelict in your financial duties towards an offspring created by yourself and Ms. XXXX. The records indicate that you have not paid any child support for the past eleven years of your child's life. We have determined, due to your income range, that the child support due every month will be twenty-five percent of your income.

XXXXX XXXXXX Child Support Enforcement Division"

The Toilenator looked at the letter blankly, scratching his head absentmindedly.

He was sure that postal worker was a woman, but then again, they can do amazing things with surgery these days. Wait a second, that name looked very familiar to him, it was a name he's seen before. Maybe this fan is a stalker?

No, he had never seen her before.

"Hold the phone…" the Toilenator exhaled to no one in particular, "that's MY name!"

………………………

The Toilenator decided to visit this "Department of Human Services." With a quick flush, he arrived in an empty men's bathroom in government building. He then located the Child Support Enforcement office.

A large older woman with gray hair, purple-tinted glasses and a scowl on her face sat at the front desk. She raised an eyebrow at the tall, soaked man. "Can I help you with anything sir?"

"Yes," The Toilenator said, thrusting the now-drenched Child Support letter of notification towards the woman, "I demand to know THIS is all about!"

Wrinkling her nose, the office worker wheeled her chair back in reflex. "You need to pay child support. All non-custodial parents are required to at the request of the custodial parent, it's the law in this state."

The Toilenator slammed the wet paper down on the desk. "I am NOT a parent, much less a special "non-custodial" one! Whatever that means…"

The older lady frowns and began to go through her desk, and pulled out a form.

In a dull voice she recited, "Sir, if you wish to dispute paternity, you must submit to a paternity test. It requires this form be filled out in whole, also it will require a blood sample be taken. What is you name?"

"The Toilenator! Surely you've heard of the terror of the Kids Next Door" said aviary vexed villain.

The woman rolled her eyes as she searched for his records. "Toilenator? No results. Are you known by any other aliases? Maybe Mr. XXXXXX?"

The tall man nodded. That was his name, in his pervious life.

A folder is pulled. The gray-haired one leafed through it. "Yes, it turns out

Ms. XXXX claims you as the father for her child, Luke XXXX. Here's a photo of him."

With tension that could be cut with a butter-knife, with closed eyes the

Toilenator took the photo from the outstretched hand of the old lady. After a pause he opened his eyes for what he believed to be the first glimpse of his child.

"You've got to be kidding me."

End Chapter One.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

By BoxieRoxie and RebLaw

The next day…

"Well, I did tell you! How should I have known you thought I wasn't serious!"

Numbah thirteen awoke to yelling. It wasn't that uncommon, as his mother had a hatred of telemarketers who called on Sunday mornings. This did seem different somehow though, in a way he couldn't quiet put his finger on. Quietly, for him, he snuck out of bed, only tripping on a blanket that wrapped itself around his foot.

There was a pause in the conversation. He heard his mother say something in a low tone. The only words he could make out were "noise" and "check on." Thirteen decided to do what Numbah two-seventy four once told him to do, to play "possum" if he thinks he might get caught. Unfortunately by "possum" Numbah thirteen thought two-seventy four was referring to how the critters hand upside-down from branches by their tails.

That evening...

Numbah thirteen sulked back home after another failed mission. He did enjoy hanging out with his fellow operatives. They had even given him a semi-important role in this last operation.

"Pumpkin, we have to talk," thirteen's mom greeted him at the door.

Numbah thirteen's mind raced trying to figure out what he had done recently that would warrant his mom telling him that they "had to talk" in such a somber tone.

"Look, ma, I can explain…" he started.

"Hush child," she said in a gently chiding voice. "There's nothing you need to explain. I need to explain something."

His mother silently led the way to the family room. She began to explain as soon as they had seated themselves.

"You know I've never told you much about your Daddy. Truth is, I don't know that much. We met at the local Coffee Shop, he was charming, and one of the sweetest men I ever met. He went away before you were born. Last I had heard of him he had drowned himself. I'm real sorry you never got a chance to meet him. I just want you know the truth."

Numbah thirteen looked up at his mother, with an unquestionable look of hunger. "Can I get some dinner now ma? I'm starving."

That night…

A noise from the bathroom and full bladder woke up Numbah thirteen in the wee hours of the morning. Half asleep he stumbled and bumbled his way to the bathroom. Groggily, he begins to undo his PJ's to relieve himself, only to notice that there is a full blown adult, clad in yellow body suit with rolls of toilet paper for trimmings, standing in his toilet.

"Luke, I am your father."

The end of Chapter Two.


	3. Chapter 3

"Luke, I am your father," the Tolienator stated plainly.

"No. No." Numbah Thirteen cried, "That's not true! That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings. You know it to be true."

"No! No! No!"

"Luke. It is your destiny. Join me, and we can rule the galaxy as father and son. Come with me. It's the only way."

"Ok!"

…………………………………

Operation APPRENTICE: Chapter Three 

………………………………

"Wait a second," the Tolienator paused, "haven't I see you somewhere before?"

"Wait a second," Numbah Thirteen echoed, "haven't I see YOU before?"

Father and son thought for a moment, sure that they have met somewhere before.

"Numbah Thirteen of the Kid's Next Door!"

"The Tolienator!"

"You've got to be kidding me," both the Tolienator and Numbah Thirteen say in unison.

A millisecond of silence followed. Footfalls of a medium weight adult approaching the bathroom broke the silence. Numbah Thirteen realized what was about to happen and backed into the corner by the door. The Tolienator was confused his son's actions.

"Lou!" a shrewish voice cried out, "What in carnation are you doing in the bathroom of my house at 2:30 in the morning!"

"Patricia, I, I can explain!" The Tolienator cowered.

"You can explain!" Patricia growled putting her hands on her hips. "Start explaining, start at the beginning, twelve years ago!"

"Well, turtledove, you see," stalled the Tolienator backing up towards the toilet. "You know, things come up…"

"Things come up! Is that really what you call drowning yourself in a toilet! What were you thinking coming here anyway? I told you keep away from my son until he's ready! He could've seen you!" She berated, stepping forward.

"But smoochie-kins-"

"Don't call me that Lou, if you think for one moment that you can 'smoochie-kins' me you've got another thing coming. If you think you can come back to me and say old pet names and have me accept you back…"

"This, my dear, is why I left you," quipped the Tolienator as he flushed himself down the toilet to safety.

"I can't believe the nerve of him…" Numbah Thirteen's mom muttered to herself before turning off the light and going back to bed.

……………………………..

"Hey Boss," the Tolienator asked the next Monday morning, "can I, maybe, get paid?"

The Boss was not expecting this. He was minding his own business, just visiting an employee to make sure he was all right.

"Tolienator, you do understand that we are a group of villains right?" The Boss always visited the Tolienator last, because it gave him a headache to talk to the fool. "I can't pay you because we don't make any money. Why are you all of a sudden worried about money anyway?"

"I got a letter saying that I need to pay child support," explained the Tolienator, he felt a bit weird talking to the Boss about personal stuff like this, but he knew the Boss always knew best.

"Child support? Since when do you have a child?" The Boss raised an eyebrow this was a surprise.

"Since eleven years ago. A son, named Luke. Ironically he belongs to the Kids Next Door."

"Really?" this was getting interesting now, thought the Boss, "he's an active member you say? Perhaps you could find out things from him? Since he is your son and you will be paying to support him, after all."

"I guess."

Had the Boss known that the Tolienator's child was Numbah thirteen, conversation would not have ended with the Boss smiling so smugly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Kids Next Door: **

**Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.**

**Chapter 4**

"Is the 'special room' ready?" The Boss asked a retail associate. "The comics put in their places? Everything nice and neat?"

"There's a slight problem, sir, we only have one copy of the newest Rainbow Monkey Comic," the shaggy haired adolescent answered.

The Boss shrugged, one was enough, and it was not as though he intended to sell them. "Very well, carry on."

"The plan is going well. Soon Comic Fortress will be opened, and many unsuspecting children will come here to read comics for a small fee, but what they find here will be something very different.

"The problem with modern toy and comic shops is that they let many children in all at once, they're always crowded. Now, my shop, we'll let three little ones in at a time. They'll pay a dollar admission, just to keep up the appearance of being a legitimate business, and go into a room filled with the comics they surely love, and then we got them," the Boss chortled with glee.

……………………………..

Transmission Interrupted.

…………………………..

Kids!

Like comic books?

We do, we own literally thousands of titles- even the ultra rare Rainbow Monkeys series!

In fact we like them sooo much that we aren't willing to sell any of ours!

But kids, for a small fee, of only a dollar you can read as many of our comics as you would like!

Come to Comic Fortress, the comic book-lovers ultimate library!

……………………………..

Transmission Resumed

……………………………

A thin young girl clad in an oversized green long sleeve shirt and black stretch pants ran into the meeting room of the treetop abode.

"Lookie lookie lookie!" A shrill voice cried out.

"What in the dickens are you going? What is that?" Numbah Four berated.

"Lookie! Comic Fortress has the Rainbow Monkey comic, and I'm going to go there and read it all day today!" Chirped the girl.

"Comics? Since when do girls like comics?" The boy sneered. "I guess girls just go 'ga-ga' over anything with the words 'Rainbow Monkey' on them. Humph."

"I'm going to go now!" Cheered the girl, grinning from ear to ear. "Wanna come? My treat?"

The boy stood silent for a minute frowning; finally he let out a quiet, "fine.

……………………

"And anyway that's why Rainbow Monkey is the best thing evaaaa!" Happily and loudly babbled the girl.

"Rainbow Monkeys this, Rainbow Monkeys that! Anymore Rainbow Monkeys and I'm going to hurl," sneered Numbah Four.

It was getting late in the afternoon, the sun was still up on the crisp autumn day but it was apparent it would not be up for much longer. The comic "library" had a rather short line, surprising as the clerk at the door explained to everyone that they were limiting how many kids could be in the rooms.

The "library" consisted of three rooms, an "action" room, a "romance/comedy/drama" room and a room that had a mixture that didn't fit into either category. Numbah Three ran to shrieking a sound of joy the second room as soon as she was told it was her turn.

"You're going to have to wait if you're here for the Rainbow Monkey comic too little boy," the clerk said to Numbah Four in a pleasant voice.

"Why do you think I would want to read that wretched abomination!" glowered Numbah Four, of all his buttons, one of his biggest had been pressed. "That does it!"

Numbah Four grabbed his crinkled dollar back out of the clerk's hand, and stomped out of the building, Numbah Three was going to have to walk home on her own that night.

……………………..

"Wowie!" exclaimed Numbah Three, impressed at the second room of Comic Fortress. "They even have Rainbow Monkey posters!"

Grinning from ear to ear the young girl selected the newest, ultra rare, Rainbow Monkeys comic, and turned around to sit on one of numerous beanbag chairs that furnish the room, when a covered hole in the floor opened up and two mechanical arms grabbed the girl and pulled her down into its depths. Numbah Three yelled as loudly as she could, but alas it was futile.

The robotic hands reemerged and picked the comic up off the ground, closed it, and soothed it flat.


	5. Chapter 5

**Kids Next Door**

**Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.**

**Chapter 5**

Numbah Four shuffled back to the treehouse. When he arrived Numbah One who was sounding the alarm greeted him. "Looks like I got back just in the nick of time eh?" he smirked.

"The moon base just raised the alarm, something is afoot." Numbah One informed the clan. "According to HQ that new 'Comic Fortress' has had several kids enter but never left. We need to go check it out."

"Buh, Comic Fortress? That's where Numbah Three and I just were!" exclaimed Numbah Four, "I could've been kidnapped!" He added as an afterthought in a quiet voice, "I hope she's alright, or that if she's not I get her room, so I can toss all of the accursed rainbow monkey garbage out of it!"

"Of course she's going to be alright," Numbah Five snapped, "we're going to save her."

"Numbah Three may be in danger!" Numbah One asked, concerned about the wellbeing of one of his team members. "Let's get going!"

"Stay alert everyone, we haven't been able to contact Numbah Three since Numbah Four left her at the place," Numbah One ordered, "we don't know who or what we're dealing with?"

Numbah One's voice trailed off, as he was astounded at the long line of kids who were waiting to get into Comic Fortress. "Well I guess there's always the backdoor," he supposed out-loud, as the line would take a good hour at least to get through. The team headed to the back

The luck of some very good luck was with the Kids Next Door that evening, the villains had left their back-door open. Numbah One, Two, Four and Five made their way in without arousing any suspicion. The back door was oddly unguarded.

Numbah Three awoke in a slightly chilly, unfurnished room. At first she wasn't sure what was going on, but figured it couldn't be anything too bad, as she still had happy Rainbow Monkey thoughts in her head. However, her bliss was short-lived, as soon as she tried to move she came to the realization that she was unable to. This distressed her greatly.

A figure in the corner stated, "Everything is going according to plan Boss." The figure lingered, waiting to hear if the Boss approved, it was a safe assumption but one can never be too safe in a the Super Villain business.

"Excellent," the Bosses voice resonated throughout the small dimly lit room, a small mixture of a smile and a smirk appeared on his face, you can't show that you're too pleased if you want to maintain work ethic. It was all working out well, as he had hoped his only concern was that the Kids Next Door would find out and foil his plot.

The figure in the corner bowed, and left. That guy is odd and very formal, the Boss thought, there's something about him.

"Think again Boss!" Numbah One quipped, "We're here and we're going to shut you down!"

"Numbah One of the Kids Next Door!" exclaimed the Boss shaking his fist. "Curse you!"

The Boss had a contingency plan, just for an event such as this. Escape would be assured, or so he thought as a gumball nailed him. Numbah Four grinned triumphantly, but it was all for naught, as the Boss had done what was needed. A ninja robot entered the room, lifted out of a trap door in the floor.

"Kids Next Door Detected," the soulless voice of the robot chirped mechanically. "Initializing Program 04082B."

"Initialize this!" Numbah Five said, as she jump kicked the robot ninja, throwing it off balance. "Numbah Five just kicked that robot's booty."

"Initializing defensive protocol 5892C," announced the robot, taking a defensive stance. "Prepare yourselves, 'Kids Next Door'."

Transmission Interrupted 


	6. Chapter 6

Kids Next Door

Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.

Chapter Six

"Initializing defensive protocol 5892C," announced the robot, taking a defensive stance. "Prepare yourselves, 'Kids Next Door'."

Numbah Four made his move then, ducking and rolling around the mechanical ninja and pulled out his bubblegum gun and fired right at the robot's back, gumming up its works.

Seeing the enemy weakened Numbah Two sprang to action and jump into the air and tried to land a kick on the robot's head, but missed, nailing the ninja on the shoulder. Unprepared for missing his target, Numbah Two was not able to catch himself and landed on his back with a thud.

The robot ninja recoiled from the two attacks, it barely was able to keep from falling over, it launched shrunken into the air and pinned Numbah Two to the ground he lie on. It rotated its head around to see Numbah Four, and breathed fire in the boy's general direction. Numbah Four was able to somersault out of the way, and return fire, with his bubble gum gun.

Luck was with Numbah Four that fateful evening, he managed to hit the robot in a critical area, causing it to shoot sparks and babble incoherently for a few second before it turned off.

Numbah Five kicked the robot ninja to make sure it was powered down. "Good!" she spat.

…………………….

"I was soooo worried!" whined Numbah Three, arms flailing by her side with excitement, in a high-pitched voice, shrill with worry and relief. "Thank you for saving me everyone!"

"I still can't believe the Boss got away," Numbah One said shaking his head, he blamed himself more than any of his teammates, but it still didn't sit well with him. "It wasn't just you that they kidnapped was it Numbah Three?"

"There's a room with the 'normal kids'," Numbah three tried to explain using wild hand gestures.

"Hey Three, ya got something on your back," Numbah Five stated, grabbing a piece of paper off of the other girl's green shirt. She flipped it open and read it to herself and then handed it to Numbah One.

"Dear Kids Next Door,

"As you probably realize by now, my associates and I have a spy hidden deep within your organization. Your weaknesses appear on our daily memos and the destruction is assured to be swiftly forthcoming.

"Sincerely,

"The Boss."

…………………………………

A message was sent to the moonbase, it was rather short, and had an attachment.

"Numbah EightySix - We have a problem, see attached- Numbah One"

After reading the attachment and rereading the note from Numbah One, Numbah EightySix concluded, "Never send a boy to do…"

And with that she was off…


	7. Chapter 7

**Kids Next Door**

**Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.**

**Chapter 7**

"Hey guys!" Numbah Thirteen greeted the Kids Next Door operatives in their tree house headquarters, "Where's the computer database thing, I finally found out who my dad really is!"

Numbah Fifteen raised an eyebrow, he remembered when Numbah Thirteen putting in "deceased" in the field of information about his father, "Hey, I thought your dad was dead?"

Numbah Thirteen shook his head, "Nope, that's just what my ma told me. You won't believe who my REAL dad is! It's kindda crazy, the computer is this way right?"

……………

"Holy chocolate milkshakes!" Numbah Eighty-Six exclaimed she had never seen anything like this in all her years at Kids Next Door; her eyes scrolled down a terminal screen her mind reeling with the possible implications of the data on the screen. "Well, I'll be darned…"

"Numbah Three-Sixty-Two, I think we need to call a meeting," Numbah Eight-Six said breathlessly, still in shock, she had decommissioned many operatives, but had never run across anything like this. "For everyone but operative Numbah Thirteen. Yes, everyone but Thirteen."

……………………………

"The Kids Next Door is an organization founded upon to fight adulthood, and to preserve our way of life." The tall blonde girl opened the meeting stating. Her words betrayed a British origin, she was known as a moon base operative however, she took Numbah Two-Seventy-Four's place on a rather interesting day when a to-be-decommissioned operative decided to run away.

"We are all bond together against a common enemy, and it is imperative in our business that we trust and rely on each other. I believe that to be our biggest strength." She grimaced as she started to explain the grim situation. "Recently, however, we received a notice from 'The Boss' that we have among us a traitor. Believing it to just be a trick to turn us against each other we investigated it only as a safety measure. We unfortunately uncovered some facts that indicate that it was not just a scare tactic."

"One of our number has listed a villain, who will go unnamed, as his father." Numbah Three-Sixty-Two paused, allowing the operatives to digest the news. "Although we are reluctant to do so, we must question where an operative's loyalties lie with such divided interests."

"I have never met the operative in question, nor has Eighty-Six," Numbah Three-Sixty-Two admitted. "Therefore we called this meeting, to hear from you, the operatives who have worked with him. I want to hear anything anyone has to say on Numbah Thirteen."

"Well, we only really worked with him once," Numbah One began, speaking for his team, as he didn't really have anything to say. "I mean, it was when we traded the Tolienator for him, he told us about the adults' plan, and we tired to foil it. Honestly, he was almost more harm than help, but it didn't seem intentional on his part."

"But he always get caught," Numbah Fifteen interjected with a slight drawl, a sharpness in his tone. "It seems like he's always getting caught by Mr. Boss or one of the other bad guys, normally one who works with Mr. Boss."

"Do you believe that he allows himself to be captured intentionally?" Numbah Eighty-Six asked gravely, wanting to make sure of such an accusation.

"At first he just seemed accident prone, but after a while, he was honestly just a hassle and brought us down a lot as a team," Numbah Eleven answered, throwing her two cents in.

Numbah Three-Sixty-Two frowned; she really didn't like making these difficult decisions. While there was evidence that Thirteen might be a spy, there was no proof.

"Well, he did break my Rainbow Monkey Vase," Numbah Three added, her brow furrowed almost angrily. "I think he is a spy!"

"I second that," Numbah Fourteen agreed standing up.

……………………

"Aw darn it," Numbah thirteen groaned to himself, "Why did I have to get myself captured again?"

Numbah Thirteen shook his head; he was tired of doing this, of trying to investigate things, klutzing up and getting caught. He hated always having to call for help, but he knew getting out on his own was futile at best. With a sign, he twisted and shifted his arms in their restraints until he was able to hit a small red button on his wristwatch, the panic button. With that a signal was sent to the moon base, notifying them of his needing assistant.


	8. Chapter 8

Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.

Chapter 8

"He got captured again! Bloody hell!" Numbah Four exclaimed, gripping his blond hair in frustration. Not that Numbah Four particularly cared about Numbah Thirteen, he was just shocked that anyone could get captured so much!

"Well, how should we handle this?" Numbah Three-Sixty-Two looked to Eighty-Six and the others.

"It's my professional opinion is that we should rescue him so we can get him decommissioned properly," Eighty-Six sighed. Decommissioning officers wasn't fun, but it was her job, the redhead often had to remind herself that it was necessary for someone to have to do her job.

"He should be?" Numbah Three-Sixty-Two asked, wanting clarification. Decommissions are permanent, once decommissioned it's impossible to rejoin the Kids Next Door.

Numbah Eighty-Six nodded gravely.

"Look, just because the bloke gets captured a lot doesn't mean that he's a spy," Numbah One interjected. It seemed rather silly to him, just because someone gets captured by the enemy a lot doesn't mean he's in cahoots with them. He had worked with Numbah Thirteen only once before, albeit that time the young boy was more of a liability than an asset, he didn't think the kid had the intelligence or the motivation to play the role of a spy.

Numbah Fifteen frowned, "Look, you don't know Thirteen very well, you've only worked with him one time. I've worked with him ever since he first BECAME a Kids Next Door operative!"

"Hey, Numbah One's knows what he's talking about," Numbah Five snapped, annoyed that Fifteen just ignored One's point. "Except if you have some sort of real proof that 'being captured' means 'is on the side of' Numbah Five thinks you should can it."

Numbah Eleven looked up gravely, "Numbah Thirteen has a FATHER who's a bad-guy, just based on that alone, doesn't that tell you guys anything?"

The Kids Next Door paused to figure out what the implications Numbah Eleven was reaching at were. Numbah Four broke the silence, "That the klutz is going to grow up to be like 'daddy' anyway, we shouldn't let him learn our secrets?"

"We don't know that for sure," Numbah Two finally added to the debate by pointing out. "Albeit, he already struck me as kind of bitter with his lot in life. But are we made by the choices we make or by the genes we inherit from our parents? Are our primal urges in our nature or nurture?"

Numbah Eighty-Six's brow furrowed- wondering why logic failed so many fellow operatives, "You do realize if his dad's a villain, he's got that going for him both in his parentage and in his environment right?"

"Both sides do have valid points," Numbah Three-Sixty-Two stated, her gaze going between those who had spoken up, as if trying to read if someone's face said "right" or "wrong" on it to make the judgment call easier on her. "I believe we should put it to a vote. And don't forget after this we need to go rescue him, regardless of how it ends."

……………………

"Alright, Kids Next Door, let's go!" Numbah One said, pointing towards the Earth, as if instructing his teammates to run through space. Numbah Three was glad to try to oblige such a silly request, she jumped up and down and flapped her arms wildly, the ends of green sleeves wailed all over the place. She continued for several minutes before coming to the realization that, despite gravity being less forceful, she still could not completely over come it and joined the rest of her team in a rocket ship to go back to earth.

……………………

"Why did you capture my son!" a man in yellow whined. The Toilenator sometimes just didn't understand Mr. Boss. "You do realize that he IS my son right?"

That's not good, Mr. Boss realized. He had been all giddy about having a child of a subordinate in the Kids Next Door. He had hoped the child would've been a decent spy, not a bumbling oaf like his father. Should've figured it was the kid that the Kids Next Door didn't even like who kept on goofing up so much that was the Toilenator's son.

"So your child is Numbah Thirteen," Mr. Boss stated coolly.


	9. Chapter 9

Kids Next Door

Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.

Chapter 9

"Of all the…" Mr. Boss clenched his fist and his teeth, it was beyond frustrating this time. Glancing at who he believed to be the most incompetent members of either side of the struggle, he decided that the only solution to this situation would be for him to just walk away. Keeping Numbah 13 was pretty useless, sure the KND cared about all their members, but his intelligence reports led him to believe that his own group didn't like him too much. And he walked away, leaving a very confused estranged father and son behind.

"Uh, Tolienato- dad?" Numbah Thirteen said, breaking the silence. He wasn't very sure of what he wanted to, or even should, call the Villain anymore.

"Tolienator…" the man in the yellow body-suit muttered, correcting his son who he recently discovered he had.

"Well, Tolienator, now what?" Numbah Thirteen asked quietly, he had been tied to a chair, was in a subsection of a satellite office of Mr. Boss. He had been kidnapped before, but generally the other side was more organized. It was the first time he saw Mr. Boss lose his cool in front of an operative.

The Tolienator was at a loss for words, normally Mr. Boss was much more reasonable. He didn't particularly want to baby-sit his son all day leaving things a mess with his employer, Mr. Boss. "Isn't your mom expecting you home soon or something?"

"Probably," figured Numbah Thirteen. Probably not for a couple hours. He didn't want to pass up an opportunity to not need to be rescued though.

"Alright then," the Tolienator started to untie his son, he had joined a "deadbeat dads" forum that he looked during work, he heard horror stories about ex-wives getting the non-custodial father thrown in jail for kidnapping, if the guy even so much as took their child across state lines for an ice-cream cone.

"Numbah Thirteen!" A voice cried as Tolienator finished untying the boy.

"Guys! You came to save me!" Numbah Thirteen was always happy when KND actually came to rescue him, it never ceased to amaze him that they were willing to expend the manpower on his behalf.

The KND operatives all just stared at Thirteen, their looks ranged from skepticism to anger.

"I, uh," realizing what an awkward position he was in, being released by the Tolienator, after calling to be rescued, "I struck a bargain with them, and they're just letting me go!"

The Tolienator crept off while the focus was off of him. He didn't even believe the kid's lie though.

"We should go," Numbah One said somberly- he wasn't happy about all this. "We should go to the Moonbase, come on thirteen."

……………………..

"What!" Eighty-six's shrill voice rang through the hallway. "Thirteen! Is. That. True!"

"Yeah, I figured, ya know, maybe I should help myself this time," Numbah Thirteen said- scratching his head, staring at the ceiling. He could tell he was in trouble; that much was obvious, Eighty-six was mad, but she was always mad, normally though his fellow operatives were quite and attentive. "Why?"

"You had nothing to bargain with." Numbah Eighty-six stated. "You do not have any amount of money that could buy off anyone who works for Mr. Boss, you had no useful gadgets or trinkets that your guard, Tolienator, would be interested in. Your services are generally sub par, in short you had nothing to offer… except… information… information that could lead to Kids Next Door being compromised. I move for a vote."

Finally, what was going to happen dawned on Numbah Thirteen. They were going to decommission him. That was not good. Of all the people in his life, the Kids Next Door, they had been there for him; they rescued him when he got captured. That was more than Thirteen could say about most of the people in his life.

"A secret vote, one vote per person, Thirteen, as you are on trial, you cannot vote, please leave the room."

Numbah Thirteen sighed, he left the room, he sat in the hallway outside the closed door, just waiting for the decommissioning to commence. He always figured that this day might happen; he knew that he was a goof-up; he always knew it was just a matter of time. Despite knowing it would happen, it didn't make it any less of a shock. He felt emotionally numb.

…………………….

"I'm sorry," Numbah Three said, in a voice that struck Numbah Thirteen as sickeningly cutesy and shrill. "Maybe we can be friends anyway?"

Numbah Thirteen didn't respond to the girl in green. It wasn't that he didn't like Numbah Three, he didn't really know her that well, she couldn't help him, couldn't or didn't want to, either way, it was pointless.

Numbah Eighty-six started talking, she sounded all official and professional. Numbah Thirteen didn't really listen; he knew what was going to happen. The decommissioning process basically not only took the former operative out of the system, but took everything about Kids Next Door out of their memory. Part of him couldn't wait to forget this mess.

He was escorted to a special chair, he was restrained. They had to do that since he wasn't voluntarily being decommissioned. Numbah Eighty-Six had done this many times; she could do it in her sleep. Most decommissionings were involuntary, Eighty-Six hated that. She almost liked it better when they tried to fight it, Numbah Thirteen, er former-Numbah Thirteen, he looked resigned, but not happy.

The helmet was placed on Numbah Thirteen's head. They had to remove the pot Thirteen wore on his head. The helmet was steel; it felt cold and hard against his head. He thought of the Kids Next Door tree house his team belonged to, he remembered where he liked to sit. It started to get foggy. He wasn't sure where he was thinking of. He couldn't remember it was weird; normally his memory was pretty good. This wasn't right, he felt weird, and cold. He remembered the first time he was rescued by his fellow operatives, how relieved and safe he felt. He remembered their smiling faces, how proud they felt for defeating the bad guys and rescuing a teammate. The faces lost their form as he tried to remember the events. Numbah Fourteen's face morphed into that of a puppy. He remembered the time when he found a stray puppy, it was cold and sick, and he brought it home and nursed it back to health, only to have his mom take it to the shelter. He remembered when he was accepted to the Kids Next Door, it was the day after that, and he remembered how they enter kids into the system, by using one of their boogers. He remembered picking his nose, but then forgot why he had done it, what was so special about that day. He wasn't sure where he currently was anyway. It was all blurry, the room was spinning.

Numbah Thirteen, now just Luke, fell asleep. He was returned home. Sometime in the middle of the night, he woke up. He reached over for his glasses, he always put them on his night stand. They weren't there, that was odd, he opened his eyes, realized that he was wearing his glasses, he saw the ceiling. It looked odd though, even as his eyes focused.

"An unfamiliar ceiling," Luke reflected almost silently.


	10. Chapter 10

Kids Next Door

Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.

Chapter 10

"Lou, I think we need to talk," Patricia said in a unwavering voice into a tarnish telephone.

"Look, I left you eleven years ago," the Tolienator didn't have any particular desire to talk to his ex-wife who hid the fact she carried and gave birth to his offspring for eleven years.

"Listen to me, it isn't about 'us' or about me," growled Patricia. "It's about Luke, the boy has been sleeping almost all day for the last week! He only gets up to use the bathroom and when I try to get him to eat something."

"Maybe he got cooties from being around you too long," the Tolienator smiled, he was enjoying being mean.

"SHUT UP!" shouted the now frustrated woman, she took three deep breaths, like her therapist always told her to, "Lou, I called the doctor Luke normally sees, the doc thinks that Luke is suffering from a psychologi-something aliment."

"And so you want to give me full custody?" Asked Lou hopefully, you could almost see his face light up like a Christmas Tree.

"No! I think he must've overheard us and seen you or somethin'," Patricia said. "This is all your fault Lou, I should've known that you'd find some way of goofing MY son up too, I never should've let you find out about him!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I guess he could've seen me," the man who called himself the Tolienator said calmly. "Maybe it is best if I come over and we explain things to him, ya know, so he doesn't worry so much about it?"

"I guess, I don't like it though," the mother of the boy who formerly was operative Numbah Thirteen of the Kids Next Door, sighed and paused. "We should both agree to not argue in front of him."

"Okay," Lou said, stopping caring after getting a semi-agreement about it. After getting that letter, he had thought about being a dad. After meeting his son, he couldn't stop thinking of all the things he wanted to tell the boy, you know the old fashioned 'don't eat the cafeteria's meatloaf', 'always wear a jockstrap if given the option', and most importantly 'don't marry women named Patricia.' Yes, the Tolienator was going to have a big smile on his face when he explains that one.

………………………………

"Lukey-poo?" a familiar female voice woke up the eleven year old lad.

"I'm tired Ma, let me sleep," it was the same line he'd be using for the past week, it had worked previously.

"Luke you got a visitor today though," Luke's mother said in her most 'encouraging' voice, "don't you want to get up and meet him?"

Luke grumbled, he didn't want to get up, he hated being away, he just wanted to loose himself in unconsciousness. He'd get up this time though, things weren't playing through his head, he was still tired enough. He hoped he'd be able to go back to bed before that scene with those odd kids began to replay again.

"Is he getting up? I can come back another time if that would be better," a man in a pale yellow button-down shirt said softly.

"Shh, here he is!" hissed Luke's mom. Then in a sweet and cheerful motherly voice, she chirped, "Luke, sweetie, I'd like you to meet your father."

He couldn't believe she dragged him out of bed for this. That's right; she didn't know he was there that night. Or was it that day? His mind had been in a fog for the past week. He figured it was best to just go with the flow, "Hey Dad what's up?"

"Luke," that word still felt awkward for the 30-something year old man to say, heck it felt awkward for him to be addressing a child without threatening them. This parenting thing was going to have to take some getting used to. For the time being he figured he'd just imitate Mr. Boss, well Mr. Boss and a bit of his own mother, he liked his mother. "Your m-mother tells me that you've been not feeling well. Do you want to talk about it?"

Luke looked at the man, who was forcing much too much of a smile, and nodded. He hoped that someone would lecture him or something- he didn't want to talk; he just wanted to go back to bed.

"Son, I realize finding out that you have a live father all of a sudden has to be a shock, I'm sure you have plenty of questions for us," Luke's mother said, after several minutes of awkward silence. "Feel free to ask away!"

"What do you do for a living?" Luke said in a flat bored tone. He did want to know, he knew that he'd met the man, couldn't remember what he did before.

The Tolienator turned a flattering shade of pink that contrasted nicely with his shirt. He had hoped that question wouldn't come up, at least not in front of Patricia. "Well you see, I work for a Boss, and he does stuff."

"What kind of stuff Lou?" asked Luke's mother. She was wondering what he did, after all, a percentage of how much money he made would be given to her for child support.

"Just normal corporate work," the Tolienator, who in honesty worked as a Supervillian under another Supervillian named Mr. Boss, said quickly. His ex-wife's interest in his career sent chills down his spine. "Would you like to come to work with me someday Luke?"

"Sure, I guess," Luke wasn't even sure why he agreed to it. He asked a few more mundane questions, just to get his parents to stop looking at him like he was about to explode or something. When he finally was allowed to return to bed and sleep away everything, he was informed that tomorrow he would be accompanying his father to work.

……………..

The sun was just rising when Luke was awoken by a loud knock. He heard his mother telling him that it was time for him to get up, as he was going to go with his father to his father's work today. He got up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and met his father, oddly enough in the same close he saw the man wearing yesterday. His father shuttled him out of the house before too many pleasantries were exchanged.

The father-son duo hoped into a nice looking black car. Much to Luke's surprise; however, his father hopped into the backseat too. When he looked forward at the driver's seat he saw that there was a chauffeur. When he looked back at his dad with a confused look on his face he saw that his father had changed clothes. The Tolienator sat in his usual yellow-body suit, complete with toilet paper attachments and toilet seat around his neck.

"Oh yeah, that's right, I remember now," Luke began, suddenly recalling the time when his father appeared before him and announced that they were father and son. He smiled briefly, remembering the surprise, and that it was nice to finally meet his other parent. But still parts were foggy- he remembered that there was something about him that his father reacted to, something he didn't seem to like. He couldn't, for the life of him, remember what it was.

"To HQ, that means 'HeadQuarters'," the Tolienator quips acting as if he did this everyday and was a stereotypical rich guy. Then he turned to Luke and explained, "Mr. Boss lent me his car and driver since your mom wouldn't really approve of my normal mode of transportation."


	11. Chapter 11

Kids Next Door

Operation: A.P.P.R.E.N.T.I.C.E.

Chapter 11

Luke, the boy formerly known as Numbah Thirteen, followed his father, the villain Tolienator, into a tall nondescript corporate- type building. Upon entering, he felt a strange darkest sense of deja vu.

"Now, son, here is where I work," the man in the yellow body suit said. "I work for Mr. Boss and my colleagues."

"That name sounds familiar…" Luke said quietly and then paused. "Where have I heard it before?"

"What're you doing? Playing dumb all of a sudden or something," Tolienator asked, with a raised eyebrow. He was kind of proud of himself for not taking an Operative just at his word this time. This is why he didn't have kids, well why he didn't knowingly choose to have kids, they made no sense.

"I just asked a question, that name, I've heard them before, I can't place them though," the boy replied quietly, unhappy at his father's disapproval.

Tolienator rolled his eyes, figured maybe the kid never heard his co-workers give their names or something, "You've been captured by half of his workers before, I sure hope his name would be familiar to you."

"I don't remember it, my mind's all confused," Luke said stopping just before he reached the elevator, starting to shake. "If I'm awake too long I have these daydreams, with this group of kids, they did something bad to me."

The Tolienator shifted his jaw speechlessly. This wasn't good, the kid wasn't playing dumb. Something must've happened. Mr. Boss would know what, and how to fix it, he always did.

…………………..

Mr. Boss does not like children. He does not tolerate them in his personal life, he does not tolerate his employees children either. For some god-forsaken reason, one of his stupider employees, the Tolienator, decided that there was something wrong with his son and that somehow Mr. Boss would be willing and able to fix it. His brows furrowed.

Mr. Boss was not a very tall man; he was more round than any other sort of shape. He was balding, had a mustache and his eyebrows have decided that it was best to join forces and form a uni-brow.

"Your son, eh? The Kids Next Door Operative Thirteen?" Mr. Boss asked, just to make sure that the Tolienator wasn't bringing in a cat or something else. He'd have fired the simpleton a while ago, if he actually paid him.

The Tolienator nodded. "He's right outside; I can go get him if you want."

Mr. Boss shrugged- he did want to extract information out of the little brat. He figured now was as good of time as any. A smirk appeared when he saw how eager the Tolienator was to turn his son over to him. It left quickly, however.

The Tolienator reappeared, literally almost pushing the boy into Mr. Boss' office. "Here he is chief!"

It took only a few questions for Mr. Boss to figure out what was going on with Luke. He had seen it a couple times before- an associate of his a while back had also experienced the decommissioning process. It was going to be a good day, Mr. Boss decided. The boy, while clumsy and upset, was in a moldable phase, Mr. Boss decided to make himself an apprentice.

First things first, however, it is rarely good to break a child completely down in front of his parent, Mr. Boss told the Tolienator to go and fetch him some coffee, from a coffee shop a few blocks away. He made sure to be extra vague in his directions. When the man in the yellow bodysuit had left, Mr. Boss instructed his secretary to delay the Tolienator upon his return. The secretary made a note of it, and decided for the hundredth time this week that she was very underpaid.

Mr. Boss returned to the room with the boy, and began working his manipulative magic. He took Luke's confusion and fear, and turned it into anger and focused it at the Kids Next Door.

Everything was going exactly according to Mr. Boss' plan. Right up to when Luke suddenly frowned at Mr. Boss, got up and left. Mr. Boss was confused; he merely had suggested to the lad that all children should be shipped to Pluto. Luke had no issue with most of the children on this planet- he merely hated the Kids Next Door operatives, all of them.

Luke grabbed his father on his way out of the building. He had a lot of work to do that day. After a bit of his session with Mr. Boss he determined what he wanted. It was so nice to have a clear goal in mind, he'd never been this focused in his life.

"Uh, so son, how'd it go?" The Tolienator asked while being almost literally dragged to the elevator.

"Fine, we have work to do now though," Luke said in a serious tone. "If we want to get the Kids Next Door taken out before certain operatives graduate, we have to start on some of my plans now."

"What's going on?" asked a very confused Tolienator as he and his son entered the elevator. "We're taking thing Kids Next Door down?"

Luke nodded and elaborated while pushing the button to take them to the ground floor, "I've decided to join you. I will become the Plunger, to help you flush out the Kids Next Door."

"Wow, you and Mr. Boss musta had one heck of a talk!" the Tolienator smiled dopily. "Yeah, Mr. Boss is great, that's why I like working for him."

A ding rang through the air and the elevator door opened. Luke stood trembling but unable to move.

"I, I remembered what they d-did to me," Luke explained after a moment, still trembling. "The K-Kids N-next Door, they s-strapped me in a c-chair and erased my m-memory. T-they were always t-talking a-about me whenever they thought I wasn't there. T-they erased my memory! I trusted them, how could they!"

Tolienator felt confused- his son was clearly upset. "What happened?"

"The K-Kids N-Next Door, they, last week they decided t-to 'decommission' me," Luke started, he was struggling just controlling his breathing, gulping and hoping not to pass out. "T-they erase the m-memory of anyone they d-decommission. I-I was strapped down to a chair, t-then they put this w-weird helmet on my head and I s-started forgetting things. I don't h-how much they took."

The Tolienator was never so aware of the pain another could be in. He decided that he would do whatever it took to help his son get the revenge. The Tolienator put his hands on his son's shoulders, to give him some show of support. "We'll get them back for you, son, I swear."

The Plunger elaborated his plans and goals, when and how; Tolienator soon realized that his son had everything figured out. That his son wasn't his sidekick; instead he was, his son, the former Numbah Thirteen's apprentice.

The End.


End file.
